Citigroup discriminated against Armenian Americans, federal regulator says; bank fined $25.9 million

By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal regulator says Citigroup intentionally discriminated against Armenian Americans when they applied for credit cards. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that Citibank argued internally that Armenian Americans were more likely to commit fraud and referred to applicants as “bad guys” or affiliated with organized crime. The CFPB found that Citi employees were trained to avoid approving applications with common suffixes to Armenian last names or applications that originated in Glendale, California, where a large Armenian American population lives. The bank was fined $24.5 million and will pay $1.4 million to impacted consumers. Citibank apologized for what it called fraud detection protocols.